St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-11-12

MOtnerS are the last TO give up tnelf
sons. Indignant fathers have been for
all time portrayed as the individuals
who believed in cutting off their sons
and heirs with traditional shillings and
who invariably in plays and novels and
well-conStructed fables turn their off
spring from the door of home into the
cherries streets of unprotectlon, but
mothers don't act that way. Mrs.
Spies. the mother of the anarchist,
called soon after the departure of his
SO-tO-Speak wife. and scene so affect
ing enSued that it would seem to be
but proper to draw veil of indiSclOSure
over it, cOntenting ourselves by remem-
bering that it was farewell parting
between a loving mother, proud of her
sons ability, brOken-hearted at the fate
that overlook him. She was overcome
and Frustrated so that it was necessary
to assist her from the room and apply
reStOratives ere she could summon Suf-
ficient courage to face the streets again.
The only one who called to see and say
goodbye" to Engel was his daughter.
The farewellS being said, the night was
faced, and at a comparatively early hour
the death-watch was Set-twO deputies
over each of the condemned four.
Engel was a curious person. He was
round, fat face, looking not unlike Un-
dertaker Merritt, the somewhat noted
professional, who was given charge OF
the remains of the late Gen. Grant nd
preceded bear-headed the hearSe con-
tanning the body of the general when it
was conveyed to the temporary tomb in
Riverside park. Engel, it will be re-
membered, tried to destroy himself last
Saturday night with laudanum. He
said last evening that
This Laudanum
was brought to him many months since
by his wife and he was sorry indeed
that he hadn't taken it, that he didn't
like the idea of dying on the scaff0ld at
all, and would greatly have perferred
making his exit through the means of
poison. He glorified Lingg as hero of
the first water and regarded him as a
martyr of imperial dimensions. He
curiously inquired as to the details of
Lingg's suicide and was enthusiastic in
praise of the service he Uingg) had
rendered the cause of anarchy by his
speeches. his bomb making, the Hay
market demonstration, and the final act
in his impulsive life. Then he turned
him to bed and almost Immediately fell
asleep. Spies thad evidently been af-
fected by the parting with Nina
and possibly the excessive grief
of his faithful mother was
responsible to certain degree
for his detection. but in any event he
was the most Respondent of the four.
He smoked great deal and wrote con-
siderable. but was not talkative. He
was nervous and seemed irritable, and
when Parsons was singing Annie Laurie,
which came waiting with its melOdic
refrain into his cell, he impatiently eX-
pressed surprise that Parsons had moth
ing better to do than singing that way.
He tried to sleep, but it was not sue
cesSful effort for long time so he arose
and sat upon stool. his hands claSped,
his eyes fixed upon the floor and then
trying again he laid upon his side with his
head upon his arm, and curiOuSly
enough fell fast asleep and lay unturn-
ing until the hour of awakening.
Fischer, the tallest of the four, a man
not unlike ex-senator Tom Cramer. of
New York, was apparently
The Least Disturbed,
after Engel, for, after talking and smok-
ing awhile and chatting pleasantly with
his guards, he undressed. went to bed
and soon fell asleep. During the night,
however, he started frequently, NUT
tered unintelligibly and tossed some.
but he had good nights rest, for all
that, while Parsons was as nervous as a
witch all the evening. all hight. Poor
Parsons! He alone was not permitted
after the expulsion of the day before to
see his wife and little ones. Not that
the sheriff or the jailer or the police or
any one else can be blamed for that, be-
cause Mrs. Parsons, being utterly reck-
less of consequences and absolutely in
different to appearances, has been will
ing, and her conduct to-day shows she
is still willing, to sink her individual
ity and that of her babies in
the furtherance of this accurSed
anarchistical business. She called at the
jail, but was refused admission because
she was demOnstrative and disposed to
be violent. Parsons knew only that he
had not seen her. and being very fond
of her and the children he was naturally
annoyed and deSpOndent. He was built
on nervous pattern. He was not
large man. In fact, he was small
man, with nervous temperament written
in every line and feature of his body.
His tongue. like that of his more fortu-
nate cOmrade, Fielden, was hung in the
middle. and he could talk vOlubly on
any topic at all times and under all c r
cumstances. One of the times was last
night, and he gave full vent to his views
of anarchy, of socialism, of the country
at large aud Illinois in particular. You
possibly remember the story of
The Black Cat
which was born in the jail and has been
in and about the prisoners cells ever
since these condemned were confined
there. Parsons took particular inter-
est in the eat, which he called after the
name of negro prisoner, Tom Stout,
or some such name. and last evening,
after they had all retired, and when
nothing disturbed the serenity of the
moment but the ceaseless chatter and
senselesS gibbering of reporters and
correspondents and officials outside the
cage, or interfered with peaceful slum-
ber except the continuous clouds of al
legged nicotine that were mercilessly
blown across the cage and into the cells
by the gathering aforesaid, strange
noise was heard, which, when
followed up. proved to be the
crying and mewing of the cat.
Finally the annoyance was so great that
the cat was sent down into the base
ment, where she remained until some
five minutes prior to the execution,
when she reappeared and, squatting in
full view of the spectators on the iron
pathway that bounds the corridor, took
in the entire scene and uttered her un-
canny verdict upon the whole proceed
ure by a series of caterwaulings that tray
ersed the enerves of every sensitive person
within a hundred feet of the scaffold.
Parsons lectured and talked and finally
sang. He sang annie Laurie;" he
sang "Way Down Upon the Suanee
River" All his nerves seemed to be on
end, but finally yielding to the demands
of nature he turned in at 12 o'clock.
JOE HOWARD, JR.
To Be Married.